Facilitate Your Finances
Sharing, monitoring, and analyzing vital corporate financial information in real-time over secure network links
Company finances are a closely guarded secret, and companies have traditionally provided only limited access to them in electronic forums. But in the information economy, businesses need to respond instantly to changing costs, customer preferences, market trends, commodities prices, and other financial inputs. They need to be able to locate and tap the most cost-effective sources of capital, from anywhere in the world. On a smaller scale, for businesses not trolling the international capital markets, integrating accounting activities with customers and suppliers can:
Shorten receivables cycles
Improve cash flow
Improve business planning, with greater predictability in cash flow and expenditures
Reduce administrative costs
Reduce dependence on credit lines
As accounting and financial analysis become more tightly integrated into day-to-day operations and long-term strategic planning, businesses are looking for new ways to integrate accounting systems into company-wide information networks. When financial data is moving securely within an intranet (basically, a company's internal network), the next logical step is bringing a business' outside financial advisors such as CPAs into the picture, via an extranet. Extranets can provide secure, authorized access to a company's internal network via dedicated lines or the Internet, which is a promising mechanism for secure information sharing. Internet access speeds and security standards are maturing to the point where a business can provide its advisors with fast, controlled access to internal finances relatively easily and for a low cost.
Finally, businesses can realize dramatic efficiency gains by integrating their financial backbone with their e-commerce initiatives, facilitating instant credit checks, streamlined billing and payment, online procurement, and automated reporting of financial results from Web-based sales and purchase activities.
Implementing an Internet-Enabled Accounting Solution
Providing secure pathways to financial data over extranet links allows businesses to use their external accounting resources--CPAs and advisors-- more effectively, with no additional overhead. And thanks to the universal availability of Internet access and advances in Web security, Internet-based accounting is becoming a reality. Companies can share data more easily among their financial staffs and with consultants, reduce time spent on noncore activities, and enhance business planning with tools that monitor and flag financial trends in time for more proactive decision making.
Today's Internet-enabled accounting and financial applications enable internal managers and outside advisors to have real-time access to financial data. Companies can "host" their accounting applications on their own servers or choose from an array of application service providers (ASPs), who offer access to a centrally stored and maintained package for a monthly fee. In either case, prerequisites include:
Solid security policies--not only network passwords and other electronic protections, but also clear, written rules governing access to sensitive reports and numbers
High-speed network access for internal users
Strong network management tools to ensure tight control over how and where financial information is distributed across the business
Extranet or Internet access for authorized external advisors; using the Internet for remote access to accounting data provides a scalable, simple solution, but the data must be properly protected from intruders
